Library and information Sciences: Perspectives of Students on Fair Use Literacy under Section 34 of the Thai Copyright Act BE 2537 (1994) in Library and Information Science Profession Subject at Department of Library and Information Science, Suansunandha Rajabhat University

A growing number of colleges, universities, libraries, and other organizations may be facing accusations of copyright infringements. Librarians have analyzed and applied fair use in library services, but rarely have they interpreted fair use for educational or library activities. Many librarians ask and concern about the possible ambiguity of fair use even before Thai parliament enacted the Thai Copyright Act in 2537 B.E. The regulated fair use stipulated in Section 34 prescribes that the standard of duplicating copyright work by librarians and /or informationists is a legitimate act. This performance is treated as the copyright exemption. But a number of Library and Information Science (LIS) students do not understand "how to apply fair use" and many LIS lecturers do not know how to teach the application of fair use. The main purpose of this research is to fill this gap by surveying a sample of LIS students for their perspectives on the importance and relevance of fair use literacy competencies for LIS students. The results of this study provided by librarians will help LIS lecturers and students to be able to understand and apply fair use to real life situations. The hope is that other institutions will be able to use this study as a guideline to develop and determine their applications of fair use in accordance with their own cultures and practices. Purpose - The purpose of tins study is to explore the understanding of library and information science students studying in library and information science profession subject at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University on fair use literacy. Specifically, the study aims at examining the following questions : How do LIS student define or understand fair use literacy? - Whether they are familiar with existing standards in Copyright Act 2537 B.E. How important do lecturers believe fair use literacy is for their students? How do they address fair use literacy, or expect it to be addressed within the curriculum? Design/methodology/approach - It was drawn on an activity survey of sixty library and information science students studying in library and information science profession subject at Suan sunandha Rajabhat University. The said survey was conducted through a combination of peer interviews with an e-survey. A set of questions was asked about the preferred terms used in the school for fair use literacy, i.e., (1) certain special cases, (2) does not conflict with a normal exploitation of the copyright work by the owner of copyright. and (3) does not unreasonably prejudice with the legitimate right of the owner of copyright. Thus, the researchers invited US student to participate in a brief of survey for their perspectives on fair use literacy. Findings - This paper reported on fair use literacy aspects of the first major surveys of library and information science students studying library and information science profession subject at Suan sunandha Rajabhat University library and information science profession subject at Department of Library and Information Science. Suan sunandha Rajabhat University. Research limitations/Implications - The survey sample was a population of library and information sciences students studying in library and information science profession subject. Practical implications - It is recmmnended that library and information science professional subject must promote fair use issues for student understanding. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.